When is a Sneaker . . .

. . . not the sneaker you wanted?

ANSWER: When you are so much in a rush you forget to check the size!

I wanted to give six of my Disney Animator dolls a set of more casual clothes to wear and ordered these little sneakers which were intended to complete their outfits. Unfortunately when they arrived I realised they were going to be far too small for their chubby little footsies and when I checked my order it showed I had ordered the 1/6 size!

At first I was disappointed, but found they were the perfect size for several of my BJD's.

Needless to say, I have now placed an order for the correct size and will have to wait until after Christmas before I am able to photograph the dolls in their completed outfits.

Here's a little preview of what I have been working on.

Hugs,

X

Disney Princesses

According to Wikipedia, the franchise does not include all princess characters from the whole of Disney-owned media, but rather refers to specific characters from the company's animated films. As of 2017, the eleven characters considered part of the franchise are (left to right below) Jasmine, Rapunzel, Snow White, Mulan, Aurora, Cinderella, Pocahontas, Tiana, Belle, Ariel, and Merida.

The original line-up consisted of princesses Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan and Tinker Bell. Five of them (Snow White, Aurora, Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Ariel) were royal by blood, two (Cinderella and Belle) married into royalty, and two (Mulan and Tinker Bell) fit the "princess mythology."

March 14th, 2010: Tiana officially became the first additional character to the Princess franchise, taking Tinker Bell's short-lived place as the ninth member. Tinker Bell was already heading up another franchise started in 2005 . . . Disney Fairies.

October 2nd, 2011: Rapunzel was "crowned" and inducted into the Disney Princess franchise as the tenth member.

May 11th, 2013: Disney added the first Pixar character Merida as the 11th Princess to the franchise.

Whether Anna, Elsa, Moana and Lilo are officially "crowned" is yet to be seen.

These are some of my little Disney darlings who I have been knitting for. I also have Elsa, Merida, Tinker Bell and Arial, but I'm not sure if they will be wearing the same knitted sets yet.

I still need to add Snow White, Aurora and Cinderella, but there's always tomorrow! :)

When purchasing Disney Animator dolls, please be aware there are fakes out there and if you want to know how to tell the difference, check this out!

Seduced

In November of 2016, I discovered Dianna Effner's 13" Little Darling dolls. Normally, I wouldn't have paid a great deal of time looking at vinyl dolls after being an avid BJD collector and accumulating eighty of them over the past few years. Yet, when I saw them on the internet I felt such a strong attraction to these dolls and continued to Google them.

I soon learned that although Dianna had sculpted the original dolls and hand painted the vinyl dolls faces, there were other artists trained by Dianna, who also painted them. As I continued to search I soon found which dolls I thought I wanted to own, but it was going to take a long time to bring any of them home.

Dianna was not taking orders at the time and from all indications the wait for one of her dolls would drive me to distraction, and should one come up on her website, the price would be way beyond what I would be prepared to pay for a vinyl doll, no matter how good it was or who painted it.

I almost went ahead with this doll (a #1sculpt), but the wait was just far too long, so long in fact I figured I'd probably not be around to enjoy her.

This is another that I would have loved to bring home . . . a #2,

and this #3 one too, but alas such is life. I'll just admire them from afar and enjoy the dolls I have. :) 

And for something a little different . . .

. . . here's a couple of recent arrivals in new cardigans that I knitted. :)

Knitting Frenzy

I've been kind of busy knitting lately, I hope you like them. :)

I used the "Susan" pattern from Jacknitss by Jacqueline Gibb (available on Ravelry). However, the pattern was designed for 18/19" dolls, and called for UK double knit yarn with 3.25mm needles. As I needed it to be smaller, I used 4ply yarn and 2.75mm needles which gave me the perfect fit for my Disney Animator dolls.

I managed to find matching shoes on eBay and had most of the buttons on hand.

Though I still need turquoise green shoes to match the cardi below and buttons for the blue cardi are on their way from Etsy.

These are part of optional outfits (dresses need to be sewn yet) that my girls will wear from time to time, when they are not in costume.

Merida's New Outfit

I thought I'd show you what Merida's outfit looks like on her before her re-paint. I doubt if she will look much different when she's finished as I love her expression and only want her eyes to be slightly smaller.

I used the Bloomer Buddies "Oh Sew Kat!" pattern which is available from Pixie Faire to make the dress, though I wish I had added more fullness to the dress below the yoke, as it falls too straight for my liking . . . which of course means I will probably make her another dress to wear before too long.

The beret, scarf, fingerless gloves and leg warmers were adaptions I made from a Kiltie Combo Accessories knitting pattern to fit 18 inch American Girl Dolls by Jacqueline Gibb on Ravelry.

As Merida is a 16 inch doll, I simply used size 2.75mm needles instead of the 3.25mm and knitted it in one colour throughout. The scarf was knitted horizontally in garter stitch, rather than vertically like the pattern suggested.

The brooch on the side of the hat I made myself and the Joyce Nicholson boots she is wearing I had in my stash. These soft real leather boots were originally purchased at a bargain price from a doll fair long ago . . . always knew they would come in handy some day. :)

Animator Madness

After finding myself in the mood to play around with face-ups and re-styling dolls, I went a little crazy last month and purchased these four 16" Disney Animator dolls.

I have great plans for Anna, she will be dressed in a nautical outfit, not unlike Sailor Moon, but not the exactly the same either . . . she just doesn't have the figure or the long legs that SM has. I shall keep her red hair, as it's quite cute tied in pony tails, and simply repaint her face.

I can easily see Elsa dressed elegantly in black and white, with long blond tresses, wide brim hat and black sunglasses . . . a little like Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's, but with a slight twist. Her hair was really fine, so it has already been replaced with a wig. Elsa's face will be completely repainted and her eyes given a cheeky wink.

Mulan's still in limbo and I'm not sure where she is headed, as she hasn't "spoken" to me yet and is still cosy in her box. Perhaps she will keep her Asian heritage, or maybe she will undergo a complete transformation, only time will tell . . . I'm waiting for some inspiration.

Merida on the other hand, is well on her way to being finished. I have knitted her a pair of fingerless gloves, hat, scarf and leg warmers and sewn her a dress. I have kept her gorgeous red curls, but the face will be repainted. She was the only doll that was pre-loved, and came without a box, though in very good condition. The other three were all mint . . . NRFB.

Upgraded shoes were a slight problem for all of them, as these dolls have a rather unusual foot size, however, the shoes have finally been ordered and should be arriving soon.